Ascension of Chaos

And after watching that video, I go ahead and watch some of the videos for the people who defeated Unique Monsters outside of their domains. After they\'ve already broken out and taken over a world.

But every single one of those is useless to me, since the people fighting the Unique Monster in those cases aren\'t at the same class as the UM in question at all. In fact, some are multiple classes above the UM. And some are even using entire armies of people above it in class.

Yet they still struggle. Hence just how powerful a Unique Monster is.

Especially after they break out of their Unique Domains.

Because Unique Monsters only have static skills, and they don\'t have as many skills as other creatures. Generally just a hundred skills. It makes it easier for them to get all of their skills.

Something I didn\'t know about monsters is that they also get Skill Points. But their only sources of Skill Points are other monsters in their Domains, killing humans, and breaking their Gate.

With their biggest source by far being breaking their Gate.

Since they apparently get ten thousand Skill Points for breaking their own Gate.

Or to be specific, the boss or mini boss ruling over the domain in question gets the Skill Points.

So the Unique Monsters drastically increase in strength after breaking out of their Unique Domains. But at the same time, they\'re only open for a very brief period of time for someone to even enter the Gates. Making it so that most of the time no one who can actually deal with them before they break actually manages to get inside to deal with them in the first place.

As for the few Successors who actually managed to defeat Unique Monsters? They are currently the most powerful Successors in the universe. With some of them, according to the Successor Forums, having the potential to become \'True Successors\', whatever that means.

I hear a murmur coming from my brother, making me glance at him.

"Ashley…"

My eyes widen a little before returning to normal. Then I feel a faint smile stretching across my face.

"About True Successors…" Chaos mutters, making me blink before looking upwards. "It\'s too early to tell you everything, but just know that Successors are called Successors for a reason."

Called Successors… for a reason…

I narrow my eyes a little bit.

That alone is enough for me to understand just what he means.

You\'re raising a generation of Primordials to replace you?

He doesn\'t answer.

But why would he? He said it\'s too early to tell me, so he likely won\'t.

I look down at my hand before clenching it and slowly climbing to my feet.

Without giving me a chance to take a step though, I hear Blake muttering, "Ashley?" Making me turn to find him now awake and staring at me.

I give him a nod in response.

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He smiles back and climbs to his own feet.

"Good morning," he eventually says after a brief silence.

I stare at him for a few seconds before glancing at the cavern wall, where I can\'t see the outside. Not that I\'d be able to see whether it\'s day or night anyways from that. Then I glance back at him.

"How do you even know it\'s morning?" I mutter in confusion while tilting my head a little.

Silence returns for a few seconds.

Then he starts chuckling while covering his mouth.

Why\'s he laughing?

I frown a little, feeling even more confused now.

Was it some sort of joke that I\'m just not getting?

He just keeps chuckling, confusing me more and more in the process. But eventually I just give a mental shrug and ask him, "Did you get any gunpowder?"

That makes him stop chuckling as he asks in return, "I\'m guessing you\'ve watched the recordings?"

"Seems he\'s watched them as well," Chaos says, not sounding surprised in the least.

I nod my head in response to Blake\'s question.

"Good," he answers, only to glance at the wall of the cavern in the direction that I sense some of that gunpowder. The direction of what is most likely the closest fortress.

Before he says anything else though, I get a surprising notification from the system.

I blink at the sight of the notification. One I wasn\'t expecting.

But then Blake continues talking, instantly making me realize why he paused the broadcast, "I can\'t touch the gunpowder myself. It\'s just too volatile, and my skill can\'t handle it."

Oh.

He\'s giving me information about his skills.

He turns back to me again and says, "My True Damage protection skill is just a simple barrier. And it\'s not a permanent one either. So it\'ll shatter after touching the gunpowder for more than several seconds."

Hmm. Unlike mine that is always active.

Mine also reflects the True Damage entirely instead of just defending against it.

I glance between Blake and the ceiling of the cavern a few times, where I imagine Chaos watching me from. Regardless of if he\'s watching me from that spot or not.

Yeah, Chaotic Source is much better.

I immediately hear Chaos\'s laughter. But to my surprise, I hear it out loud. Making me look behind me to find a tiny orb of crimson, purple, and black energy. One that Blake apparently sees too.

"Of course Chaotic Source is better than True Barrier! Chaos is the best energy in existence after all!"

Then another voice that I don\'t recognize fills the cavern – a female one this time – making me glance towards Blake to find a blue orb floating next to him.

"Calling an amalgamation of all the energies in the universe mixed with an unknown factor the \'best energy in existence\' is the same as calling a raven the same thing as a human just because they\'re both living creatures."

The voice sounds both cold, exasperated, and irritated.

I glance between the two as Chaos retorts.

"Oh, is that right shorty? Energy is energy, regardless of how it came about. And you, little miss bookworm, shouldn\'t be able to disagree with that."

And the other voice retorts back.

"If you call me that one more time, I will blow up that black hole you love so much."

Blake and I end up bobbing our heads back and forth between the two orbs as they go back and forth at each other like an old married couple.

"Ooo, my sweet daughter called us a married couple! What d\'ya think, shorty?"

"We are most definitely not an old married couple!"

I blink for a moment, wondering if the other voice could hear my thoughts. Then I realize from Blake\'s face that he seems to have had the same reaction.

Wait, did we think the same thing?

"Didn\'t you say that you dated for a thousand years?" Blake asks, crossing his arms with a brow raised. "That\'s longer than most married couples stay together."

I glance at him.

It\'s longer than most married couples stay alive…

Wait a second, dated for a thousand years? That rings a bell…

My eyes widen as I realize just who this blue orb must be.

The Primordial of Magic, Etheria.

But… how are they here?

"We\'re not actually here," Chaos answers my thoughts, making me glance back at him as Etheria starts lecturing Blake for some reason. "We\'re just taking advantage of the paused broadcast to send a wisp of our consciousness to the Unique Domain. But we can\'t do anything beyond talking to you."

Huh.

Not sure why they bothered if all they can do is talk.

Unless they just wanted to share a conversation with all four of us involved?

I feel a sense of smugness from Chaos, pretty much confirming my thoughts there.

Why…

Chaos and Etheria quickly begin arguing again when Chaos takes a shot at her magic study and how long it took her to figure out my skill. With Blake looking rather shocked and amused by the whole interaction. Which I have to say is rather amusing and childish for Primordials.

…do I feel like he just wanted to argue with her and shatter whatever image she had in front of Blake?